45 Year Old Mother (Myanmar : Shan)

OA says she is 45 years old, but looks easily 10 years older.Double checking, I ask what year she was born towards the end of the interview.“1965”, she says.So she really is 45.But sitting next to LA who is only 3 years her junior, she looks old enough to be the mother.

Her family and relatives were involved in student’s movement in the late 1980s.As a result, her relatives were arrested and her elder brother died during interrogation.Although she was not involved, the government suspected her of being a sympathiser and the military used to call on her often, day or night.

Leaving behind her husband and four children, she fled to Pattani in Thailand, where for 9 years she worked in a fishing village, cleaning and preparing dried fish.She had lots of skin problems as a result of her job.Hearing from others that there is a UNHCR office in Malaysia, and looking for a better life, she saved money to pay an agent to bring her to Malaysia.The agent sent her to a rubber plantation.She stayed there for six months, earning RM10 a day to collect and process the rubber sap from the trees, working from 8 am to 6 pm.She only worked on the days the rubber needed collecting, which wasn’t every day.There, OA together with 4 other Myanmarese slept on the ground under a plastic sheet. She moved a month ago when she heard about another place from visitors, and is now living with LA.She has been trying to find a job this past month, so now she spends her days helping with the cooking and cleaning.

“Things are better here.I have not had enough sleep for the past 6 months.We were always scared of arrest or robbers.Now I have enough sleep”.